Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-07-01
KIN 6
Solomon Mines,

How kn0weSt tl0u the Gead man ;
name?' she asked, sharply; and then, with
out waiting for an answer, went on:
"None know what happened; but it came
about that the white man was frightened,
for he flung down the goat skin. with the
stones, and fed out with only the one stone
in his hand, and that the king took, and II is
the stone that thou, Mccumazahn didst take
from Twala's brow"
Have none entered here since" ] asked,
peering again down the dark passage.
None, my lords. Only the secret OF the
door hath been kept, and every king hath
opened IT, thought he hath not entered.
There Is a saying that those who enter
there will die within moon, even as the
white man died in the cave upon the noun
tain, where ye found him, Macumnzahn.
Hal hal mine are true words"
Our eyes met as she said it, and | turned
sick and cold. How did the old bag know
all these things?
Enter, my lords. If l speak truth, the
goat-skin with the stones will lie upon the
floor; and If there is truth as TO whether it is
death to enter here, that will We learn after
ward. Ha! hal hav' And she hObbled
through the doorway, bearing the light with
her; but confess that once more | heeitat-
Cd about following.
"Oh, confound it ALL said Good, ''here
goes | am not going to be frightened by
that old devil" and followed by Foulata,
who. however, evidently did not at all like
the Job for she was shiyering with fear,
he plunged into the passage after GagOol-
all example which we quickly followed.
A few yards down the passage, in the mar
row way hewn out of the living rock Gagool
h,J rouonI auJ ,uts waiting far
sec my lords" she said, holding the
light before her, those who stored the
treasure here fed in haste and bethought
them to guard against any one who should
find the secret of the door, but had not the
time" and she pointed to large square
blocks Of stone, which had, to the height OF
two courses two feet three, been placed
across the passage with a view 10 wallng il
up. Along the side Of the passage were
similar blocks ready for use, and, most curl
ours of all, a heap Of mortar and 4 couple OF
trowels, which, SO far as we had time t.
examine them, appeared to be OF a similar
shape and make 10 those used by workmen
to this day.
Here Fouata, who had throughout beer
In n state Of great fear and agitation, said
that she felt faint and could 20 no further
her down on the unfinished wall, placing the
basket OF provisions 10y her side, and left hel
10 recover
Following the passage for about fifteen
PAGES further, we suddenly came to an ella
bOratcly painted wooden door. 1t wa,
standing wide open. Whoever was last
there had either had not the time or had for
gotten to shut it.
Across the threshold lay a skin bag
formed Of u gOat-Skin. that appeared TO bs
full Of pebbles.
"Hec! heel white men, staggered Ga
cool, rs the light from the lamp fell upon it
What did tell yc, that the white man who
came here He'd in haste and cropped the
woman bag behold itP'
Good stopped down and lifted it. 1t was
hay and jinged
by JoYel believe its full OF diamonds "
he said, in an awcd whisper; amt indeed,
the idea Of u small golt-skin full of dis-
monds ~ enough 10 awe anybody.
Go on said Sir Henry impatiently.
"llcre, old lady, give me the lamp and
taking 1t from GagooFs hand, he stepped
through the doorway and held ii high above
his head
We pressed in after him. forgetful, for the
moment, Of the bag Of diamonds, and found
ourselves in Soomon's tr"asurc-chamber.
At FIRST all that the somewhat faint light
given 10y tho lamp revealed was room
hewn out of the living rock, and apparently
not more than ten feet square Next there
came into sight stored one on the other as
high as the roof, splendid collection of
elephant trSks. How many of them there
were we did not know, for of course we
could not see how far they went back, but
there could not have been less than the ends
of four or five hundred tusks of the first
quality visible TO our eyes. There, alone,
was enough ivory before Us to make man
wealthy for life. Perhaps, | thought it was
from this very store that Solomon drew his
material for his great throne of ivory" of
which there was not the like made in any
kingdom
On the opposite side Of the chamber We're
about score OF wooden boxes, something
like Martini-llcnry ammunition boxes, only
Gather larger and painted red.
There are the diamonds" cried /;
bring the light"
Sir Henry did SO, holding ii close to the
top box, OF which the lid, rendered rotten by
time, even In that dry place, appeared to
have been smashed In, probably by ia Sill
vestra himself. Pushing my hand through
the hole In the ld drew 1t ont full, not Of
diamonds, but of gold pieces, OF shape that
none OF us had seen before and with what
looked like Hebrew characters stamped up
OH them.
Abr | said, replacing the coin, I'VE
ahan't 20 back empty-handed, anyhow.
There must be a couple of thousand pieces
IN each box, and there are eighteen boxes.
| suppose 1t was the money tu pay the work,
men and merchants"
Well put in Good II think that is the
lot; | don't scr any diamonds, unless the
old Portuguese put them all into this bag"
Let my lords look yondCr, where il is
the darkest, il they would find the stones, -
said Gag0ol, interpreting our looks. There
my lords will find n nook, and three stone
chests in the nook, two sealed and one
open"
Before interpreting this to Sir Henry
who had the light, could not resist asking
how she know these thin = if no one had
entered the place since the white man. gen.
crations ago.
All, M1Cumazahn, who watched hy
night WAS the mocliug answer, "yc wht
live in the stars, do yc not know that SOME
have eyes that can see through rOCkP'
Look in that corner Curtis said. indi
eating the spot Gago,l had pointed out.
"liullo, you fellows he said, heres :
recess. Great heavens, look here
We hurried up 10 where he WAS standing
In nook, something like Il small bay-win.
dow. Against the wall Of this recess were
placed three stone chests. each about two
feet square. Two were utted with stone
lids, the lld ut the third rested against the
side of the chest which was OPEN
Look! he repeated, hoarSrly, holding
the lamp oyvr taC open chest We looked
and for u mnmonl could make nothing out
uh account ct 4 slvery Sleel that dazzled
us When eur eyes cot used TO it we saw
tHat the cIest was three parts full OF uncut
diamonds, most of them q; considerable
So STOPPING | picked some up. \ eS
there was no mistake about it, there was the
wmHs.tnahle SoApy feel about them.
| fairy ga<ped as dropped them.
Eve are the richest men IN the wholt
world l said Monte CriSto is fool L
us
I'VE shall flood the market with dia
moudS," Slid Guod.
Got to get them thcro first" suggested
Sir Henry
dice, hee. hrcr went Old Gagool be
hind us, rs she lifted abort like a vampire
hat There are the bright stones that VI
love, white mcl, rs many rs We will; take
them, run them through Your fingers, eat
them. he! hec drink them. hal har'
There was something 81 ridiculous at thai
momeut 10 my mind in the idea of eating
Rui drinking diamonds that 4 hayvlu Z,